A very ambitious Texan politician and Great War veteran, Knight had designs on becoming Confederate President, founding and heading the Redemption League party which was especially strong in the Western part of the Confederacy. Since the aims and following of Knight's party were similar to those of Featherston's Freedom Party, a merger was an obvious step. As mediated in the early 1920s by the Tin Hats, itself a powerful veterans' organization, this was supposed to be a unification between two equal partners. In reality, however, Featherston outmaneuvered Knight, the Redemption League was swallowed by the Freedom Party, and Knight was left in a subordinate position

In the following years, Knight was often sidelined by Featherston. Still, he retained some public standing and public following, especially among his original power base in the west. In the lead-up to the election of 1933, Featherston saw a real chance for victory, but realized that the only way to clinch it was to give Knight the Vice President slot. While this decision initially infuriated Ferdinand Koenig, Featherston's long-standing partner and two-time running mate, Featherston convinced Koenig that he intended to give Knight no more than a powerless sinecure, and that Koenig would have far more of a real power in the new regime - and so indeed it turned out.

Initially, Knight cherished his new position as Vice President. After taking office however, Knight soon realized the limited nature of the position generally, and resented the fact that the office became even more meaningless under Featherston's regime.

When the Confederate Constitution was amended in 1938 to allow presidents to run multiple times, Knight, a patriot above all else, finally comprehended Featherston's absolutist goals for the C.S., and was frightened into action. That December, Knight ordered Freedom Party Stalwarts he'd co-opted to attack Featherston's motorcade, but they failed to kill him. Knight's role in the attack was uncovered, and he was impeached and forced to resign in short order. He was immediately arrested and secretly dispatched to Camp Dependable, Louisiana in 1939, the only white prisoner among hundreds of black rebels. After a long period in which Jefferson Pinkard repeatedly reported to Richmond that Knight was still alive, and that the black prisoners were showing no inclination to kill him, Knight was executed by Pinkard on Koenig's order in the fall of 1941, shortly after the Second Great War started.